YEA Lesson Library
Celebrate Pentecost
About This Lesson
This lesson teaches about the events in Acts 2 and gives the reason why we celebrate this Feast today.
Scriptures
Leviticus 23:15-17
Leviticus 23:21-22
Numbers 28:26
Deuteronomy 16:9
Acts 2
Acts 2:1
1 Corinthians 6:8
Words to Know
BAPTIZED - an outward act or sign that shows you are willing to serve God
PENTECOST - fifty
FIRSTFRUITS - the first of the harvested grain
The Lesson
Do you remember our last Holy Day? We talked about the Days of Unleavened Bread. We ate unleavened bread for seven days because God told us to. And we did it because it teaches us that Christ is the Bread of Life and He lives in us.
The Bible tells us to count 50 days from the Days of Unleavened Bread. Then it says we should celebrate another Holy Day. Seven full weeks have passed since the Days of Unleavened Bread. That means we get to celebrate another Holy Day. This Holy Day has several names. We can call it Pentecost. Pentecost means 50. Or we can call it the Feast of First Fruits. Sometimes, the Bible calls it the Feast of Weeks.
Before Jesus went up to heaven in a cloud, He taught His disciples many things. He told them to wait in Jerusalem until the day of Pentecost. He said that He would be going to heaven and after He left this earth, He would send His Spirit. His Spirit would give them power to tell others the good news about Him.
The disciples did what Jesus told them to do. They waited in Jerusalem. While they waited, they prayed. This prayer meeting went on for several days.
Christians came from many places to celebrate this very special Feast in Jerusalem. Seven weeks had past since Jesus’ resurrection. The Day of Pentecost had come. Peter preached a sermon to the people who were there. Suddenly they heard a loud roaring noise. It was like a mighty windstorm in the skies. It filled the house where they were meeting. Then something that looked like flames of fire appeared on their heads. This is something we’ve never seen before. Neither had they. It was the Holy Spirit that did this. The Holy Spirit gave them power they had never had before. It made them able to speak in other languages. This was a miracle!
Would you like to be able to speak Spanish, French or German without having to go to school and learn it? On the Day of Pentecost the people could suddenly speak different language they never knew before.
What if you had a new boy come to your school and he couldn’t speak English – only Spanish? You couldn’t understand him and he couldn’t understand you. Then God did a miracle and you could now speak Spanish to the new boy. The new boy could understand every word you said. Wouldn’t that be wonderful! That’s what happened on this special Pentecost. There were people from many different nations there. They didn’t all speak the same language. Many couldn’t understand what another person said. After God did this miracle, everyone could understand other people. The Holy Spirit gave them this power.
The Bible says the Holy Spirit is like oil. Oil can be put in a lamp and if you strike a match to it, it will burn brightly. We need to pray that God will give us oil in our lamp so it will shine brightly. It’s not always easy to act like God wants us to do. So God gives us the Holy Spirit when we are baptized. His Spirit is a gift that helps us learn more about God. It helps us to act the way He wants us to. The Holy Spirit may not help you to suddenly speak Spanish to a boy in your class. But God’s Spirit can help us do many good things. It helps us to be kind. It helps us to obey our parents. It helps us to love God and other people. His Spirit will help us to be like our Friend Jesus. These are good fruits Jesus wants to see in our lives. Do you remember, one of the names for this day is the Feast of first Fruits. The Holy Spirit can give you fruits in your life. Some of the fruits it will give you are love, joy, patience, and kindness. Aren’t these fruits we want to have in our lives? There are so many good things to celebrate. Pentecost is a great feast to celebrate!
Student Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you that we get to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. Thank you for giving us the gift of your Holy Spirit. Help me to grow and produce good fruit. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Daily Devotions
Sunday - Leviticus 23:15-17
Monday - Leviticus 23:21, 22
Tuesday - Numbers 28:26
Wednesday - Deuteronomy 16:9
Thursday - Acts 2:1-4
Friday - Acts 2:38
Saturday - 1 Corinthians 16:8
Objectives
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
1. Explain that Pentecost means “fifty.”
2. Tell that Pentecost comes seven weeks after the Days of Unleavened Bread.
3. State that Pentecost is the birthday of the New Testament church.
4. Say that the Holy Spirit empowered Christians on the first Pentecost after Christ’s resurrection.
5. Explain that the Holy Spirit gives us power that we cannot have without it.
Topics & Themes
Counting
Disciples
Feast of First Fruits
Feast of Weeks
Fruit of the Spirit
Holy Spirit
Jerusalem
Jesus, in Heaven
Kindness
Loving God
Loving Others
Miracles
Obedience
Oil
Pentecost
Peter
Prayer
Sharing the Gospel
Two loaves
Materials Needed
Bible, YEA students and teacher’s books, calendar, pencils, bean plants, construction paper, typing paper, crayons, scissors, yardstick, glue, songbook, CD/cassette tape and music player, attendance and memory verse charts, stars
Preparation
This Festival Supplement that you are keeping in a folder should be given a week in advance to the students so they can prepare for class. Bring the beans that were planted seven weeks ago during the Days of Unleavened Bread to class so students can see the growth in the plants.
How to Teach This Lesson
Background - Begin the class discussion by reading this background. God told the Israelites to keep Pentecost and he also wants us to celebrate it today. “Speak to the people of Israel. Tell them, ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, bring an offering to me. Bring the first bundle of grain to the priest. He must lift the grain up and wave it in front of me. . .The day you brought the grain for the wave offering was the day after the Sabbath. Count off seven full weeks from that day. Count off 50 days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath. On that day bring me an offering of your first grain. Bring two loaves of bread that are made with 16 cups of fine flour. They must be baked with yeast. Bring them to me as a wave offering from the first share of your crops. That applies no matter where you live. . .’ ‘On that same day tell the people that they must come together for a special service. They must not do any regular work. That is a law that will last for all time to come. It applies no matter where you live’” (Leviticus 23:10,11,15,21 NIrV).
Days of Unleavened Bread review - Ask: Who remembers the name of the last Feast that we celebrated? Students like to tell things they know, allow them to tell you as much as they remember about the Days of Unleavened Bread. Ask: What is different about the way we celebrate Pentecost than the way we celebrated the Days of Unleavened Bread? You may need to prompt the students by telling them that you started the class by reading something that showed a big difference in what was to be done on Pentecost that we could not do during the Days of Unleavened Bread (loaves of bread made with yeast). What is another difference in the way we celebrate these two feasts? (One is kept for seven days and the other is only celebrated one day.)
Celebrating Pentecost - Words make a difference in how our children look upon biblical teachings. The word “celebrate” denotes fun whereas “keeping” doesn’t. God intends that feast days are very important and that they are celebrated. We should make them important and memorable for our children. Ask: Who can tell us what Pentecost means? How many days has it been since we celebrated the Days of Unleavened Bread? Who can give another name for the Feast we are celebrating today? Can anyone else give another name? What do you think the disciples will remember about celebrating Pentecost? What do you remember that happened on that day? Did you know that Pentecost is the birthday of the New Testament church?
The Holy Spirit - Ask: What did the Holy Spirit look like the day the disciples celebrated Pentecost? The Bible says the Holy Spirit is like something. Who remembers what that is? (oil.) What is oil? (It’s a fuel that burns brightly.) What can we use oil for? How does God’s Spirit help us?
The bean plant - Put the cups with the bean plants in them on a desk for the children to see. Ask: What has happened to the bean we planted? If the plant has beans on it point out that beans are “fruit” that the plant is growing. Tell the class that God wants us to be like the bean plant and bear fruit too. Compare it with spiritual fruit in our lives. Ask: What fruits does God want to see in our lives (love, joy, peace, etc.)? Now measure all of the students and compare their height with the measurements you took during the Days of Unleavened Bread. Let the students know how much they have grown physically. Tell them that God wants them to also grow strong and big spiritually. They can do that if they love and obey God, pray, read their Sabbath School lessons and do good things for other people.
Review Questions
1. What did God give on the first Pentecost after Jesus went to heaven?
2. What does Pentecost mean?
3. Whose birthday is Pentecost?
4. What kinds of actions does God look for from us?
Teacher-Directed Activity
Make birthday cards for the church. Display these on the bulletin board or in your classroom. Then, use a calendar to show the children how seven weeks have passed since the last festival. Start on the Sunday during the days of Unleavened Bread and count up to Pentecost. Discuss with the children how those seven weeks have given the bean plants time to grow. Ask them how they think the plants will look in seven more weeks.
REACH Activity
1. There are three names of this holy day. Using Bible tools (dictionary, concordance), find out what the three names are and where you would find them in the Bible. Write this information in your Bible notebook.
2. In your Bible notebook, add to your list of God’s Holy Days (chart or paragraph) begun during the Days of Unleavened Bread.
3. Find the Concentration game (Holy Days, Passover, and Sabbath) you made during the spring holy days. Play it with a younger sibling or friend.
4. Do a sword drill with the Daily Devotional Scriptures. Read the Scripture reference to the child. Then start the timer. When the child has found the verse, stop the timer. Read the verse and talk about how it relates to the lesson. Challenge the child to see how quickly he/she can find each of the verses in the Bible.
5. Read Leviticus 23:15-21. In your Bible notebook, write down the special offering that was made on the day of Pentecost. Think about a special offering you can make to God to show Him how much your appreciate Him.
6. Read Acts 2:1-4. Draw a picture of what this might have looked like. Write your memory verse across the bottom as a caption. Then finish the project by adding color using your favorite color tools.
7. Sing:
A. From Kids Classics Collection, “Give Me Oil in My Lamp” on pg. 24, “Jesus Bids Us Shine” on pg. 37, and “I Am A C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N” on pg. 52.
B. From the CEM Hymnal, “Spirit Song” on pg. 201, “Breathe on Me, Breath of God” on pg. 105, “Bringing in the Sheaves” on pg. 35, and “Count Your Blessings” on pg. 44.
C. From The Group Songbook, “I Will Celebrate” on pg. 49, “I Will Enter His Gates” on pg. 87, “This is The Day” on pg. 35, and “We Are His Hands” on pg. 9.
8. Make a greeting card wishing a friend a Happy Pentecost. Decorate with your favorite color tools, stickers, and/or glitter. Include your memory verse or a note telling them how much your appreciate them.
9. Take the song “I Am A C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N” (Kids Classics Collection pg 52). Write a new verse for Pentecost. (Hint: There are 9 letters in “Christian” and in “Pentecost.) Sing it with a friend to your sabbath class.
10. Find a mini flashlight. In your Bible notebook, write a paragraph explaining how the flashlight works. Then spend some time thinking about how the Holy Spirit working in your life is like the battery working in the flashlight.
11. Find a hair dryer and a ping pong ball. Hold the hair dryer with the blower facing up. Place the ball on the hair dryer and then turn it on. Watch what happens to the ping pong ball. Why does it float there? This is known as Bernoulli's Principle. Look up this principle and write about what happened (and why) in your Bible notebook. How does the experiment with the ping pong ball relate to what God’s Holy Spirit does in your life? Talk about this with your family and then write a summary paragraph in your Bible notebook.
12. Jesus wants us to shine our light for Him. Make a list of times in the past when you were able to shine for Jesus. Make a list of ideas how you could share Jesus with the world around you. Share this list with your parents. Pick one idea to do this week.
13. Do an experiment with a large wine glass, oil, water, effervescent tablet, and food coloring. Fill the glass 85% with oil. Then pour in water - which will sink to the bottom of the glass. Put in a couple of drops of food coloring. Drop in a tablet. The effervescent tablet will bubble in the water, rise to the surface, and then sink again. The Holy Spirit works inside each of us. The outward actions that everyone sees can be genuinely motivated by the Spirit inside or they can be just an outward show without the inward reality. But God knows. And over time, the consistency of our actions will demonstrate the authenticity of our Christianity and the indwelling of God’s Spirit. Draw a picture in your Bible notebook, detailing the science experiment and what happened. Then write a summary paragraph comparing the experiment to the Holy Spirit working in our lives.
14. Draw the side view of a large flashlight on heavy cardstock. Cut it out. Add color. Write “Jesus Bids Us Shine” on one side. On the other side, write your memory verse. Cover it with contact paper. Trim around the contact paper. Punch a hole in one end. Add a tassel. Give the bookmark to a friend.
15. Read Acts 2:5-12. They all heard the disciples speaking in their own languages. English has borrowed lots of foreign words that we use all the time. Guitar, sombrero, and lasso are all Spanish. Ballet, bouquet, and hotel are all French. Kindergarten and sauerkraut are German. What other words do you know that are taken from a foreign language? Make a list of them in your Bible notebook. Then use the internet to find some you didn’t even realize were a foreign language.
16. Write about a time when you were given a very special gift in your Bible notebook. Then read Galatians 5:22-23. These are the fruit of the Spirit; they come from you having the Holy Spirit working in your life. Draw nine pieces of fruit. Write one fruit of the Spirit on each to help you remember what they are. Add color.
Song
“Give Me Oil in My Lamp” is on page 24 of the Kids Classics Collection.
Closing Prayer
Lead the children in prayer giving God thanks for Pentecost and His Holy Spirit.
Printable Pages
